DUBAI // A man has died in a blaze after arguing with a prostitute, who stole from him before setting his flat alight, police say.
B R, who was in his 30s and from the same unidentified Asian country as the prostitute, aged 24, died last Friday in the fire at his first-floor flat in Al Muhaisnah 4.
Dubai Police chief Maj Gen Khamis Al Muzeina said that officers who attended the scene suspected foul play, even though it seemed like a normal, accidental fire.
“There was no immediate evidence of criminal activity and there were no signs that the victim was assaulted, but the police’s training made them suspect foul play and continue investigations,” Gen Al Muzeina said.
He said the victim, who had returned to Dubai from his home country a couple of days before the blaze, worked as a general manager for a Dubai company.
Police said he had been having a party with two friends and two prostitutes, and that he offered one of the women Dh1,000 to stay with him after the others left.
Maj Gen Khalil Al Mansouri, assistant to the Dubai Police chief, said investigations showed that the two friends and one woman left the flat about 7.30pm.
“The two men said during questioning that the women were summoned to the apartment by the victim for a sum of money,” Gen Al Mansouri said.
The two were prostitutes working for a woman in Hor Al Anz. The victim’s friends, the prostitutes and their boss were all arrested.
The suspect said she agreed to stay with the victim in the flat but that he was drinking and started screaming at her because she was talking on her mobile phone to friends.
Maj Adel Al Joker, head of investigations at CID, said: “At around 10pm there was a dispute between the two. The woman pushed him and he fell to the ground in the bedroom, which she closed.
“The suspect then searched the house and stole gold jewellery and electronics. She then took some of the victim’s clothes, put them on the couch near the balcony in the living room and set them on fire, which spread to the couch and the room.”
Maj Al Joker said that the suspect locked the apartment door from the outside after making sure the fire had spread and fled to her flat in Hor Al Anz, where she was arrested and the stolen goods were found.
The victim suffocated and his body was found in one of the bedrooms. He had been living in the apartment with his mother, who had left for her home country about a month ago.
A report of the fire was called in at 10.31pm and Civil Defence had it under control in 13 minutes, but the man could not be saved.
The suspect had a residency visa that had run out. She and the four others have been referred to prosecutors.
dmoukhallati@thenational.ae